Porsche is the match winner in the first prologue race for the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring. Three nine-eleven GT3s were in the lead at the finish line after the thrilling first of two four-hour races at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers on Saturday evening. Tim Heinemann and Sven Müller in the Falken Porsche (#44) were ahead of their team-mates Julien Andlauer and Klaus Bachler in the #33 and Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining in the Manthey 'Grello' (#911) after 27 laps. However, the Falken Porsche with the #33 was given a time penalty of 32 seconds for overtaking under yellow flags after crossing the finish line, meaning that second place ultimately went to the Grello shortly after the podium ceremony. The second part of the intensive weekend of preparation for the season highlight at the end of May starts tomorrow: The four-hour race starts on Sunday (April 14) at 13:00. Admission to the open spectator areas around the Nordschleife will again be free (only parking fees apply), tickets for the paddock and the grandstands of the Grand Prix circuit will be available at the open box offices.

After winning the season opener of the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie), today's success was the second triumph for Falken Motorsports in the young Nordschleife season. "I had a bit of trouble keeping up with the pace of the Audis at the start today. But things went better and better for us," said Falken driver Sven Müller, summing up the opening race of the weekend. "The balance of the 911 was perfect and the tires were great. The pit strategy was also right - that's a successful start to the season! Tomorrow we'll change the driver pairings a little and want to continue working on the set-up for the 24-hour race." Team boss Sven Schnabel was also in a positive mood: "As a team, we've had a good start to the season and I hope it stays that way. If it stays like this for the 24h race, that would obviously be perfect."

Previously, a quintet had dominated the action at the front of the field for a long time: Initially, the two Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II cars from Scherer Sport PHX (#15 and #16) were able to maintain the lead, having also shared the front row of the grid. Starting driver Ricardo Feller lost the internal team fight against Christopher Haase, who headed for the pits in the lead. "We are already close to the top condition of our cars, which can now really be considered 'bulletproofed'," said the driver from Kulmbach, describing the team's current advantage over the competitors with fresher material, who used the two qualifying races in particular to further refine the optimum set-up for the 24-hour race at the end of May. Ultimately, however, it was not enough against the currently strong Porsche. Axel Randolph, Team Principal of Scherer PHX, had to admit: "I think you could see today that we can't keep up with the Porsches at the moment. We were in front and drove a good race, but the Porsches are better in terms of speed."

Large grid offers exciting motorsport
Almost 130 teams lined up for the first four-hour race of the weekend, providing the best entertainment of the evening. The starting field, which was significantly larger than last year, also included many entrants from the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS), which is taking part in its third and fourth races of the season this weekend. Even though the almost 30 cars in the top classes, which are capable of winning, dominated the action at the front, there was also excellent sport in the fight for victory in the other outstanding classes. As the fastest non-GT3, #148 Steve Jans, Tobias Müller and Noah Nagelsdiek (Black Falcon) won the Cup2 category and thus also took the day's victory in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring (PETN). Things are looking particularly good for two touring car teams in the standings after the third NLS race. The Adrenalin Motorsport-BMW M240i Racing Cup #650 and the Hyundai i30N from Mertens Motorsport #491 both won their well-populated classes today, as they did in both NLS opening races, and are therefore leading the standings going into the overnight break.

The action continues on Sunday!
The second race of the weekend will take place on Sunday (April 14) at lunchtime. Before that, however, the morning qualifying starts at 8:15 am. At 10:40 a.m., the fastest teams will then start the top qualifying for the best grid positions. The four-hour race will be released at 13:00. On Saturday, the RCN performance test brought the first sporting decisions of the weekend. Prominent guest in the field: former national soccer player Max Kruse, who also used this opportunity to gain practical experience. His goal is to compete in the 24h next year. Throughout the weekend, there will be real junior and amateur sport with automobile slalom competitions in the Mercedes Arena and youth kart slaloms on the helicopter course in the paddock.